Vehicle shock-absorber.



J. F. O'CONNOR.

VEHICLE SHOCK ABSORBER .APPLICATION m JULY 25. 1914.

' Patented May 2, 1916.

WITNESSES UmTEDsTATEs PATENT oF noE.

JOHN F. OCQNNGR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T WILLIAM H. MINER, 0F CHAZY, NEW YORK.

VEHICLE SHOCK-ABSORBER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be'it known that I, JOHN FnOCoNNon, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Chicago. in the county of Cook and State of-Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Vehicle Shock-'Ab sorbers, of which the following is a full,

as automobiles, in which afriction mecha-" nism is employed and so arranged that it givesa substantially uniform frictional resistance during its operation in both direc tions. V

Another object of the invention is,

to provide a shock absorber of the type above indicated which is of Lsimple construction, efficient in operatlon, and composed of few parts. a

. p In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure l 'i'san elevational view of a portion of an automobile chassis and springs showing oneform of my. improvement in COIlllQClllOItlihfiIfBWlth; Fig. 2 Is an enlarged horizontalsectional view takensub stantially on line .2'2. of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3

is a vertical sectional viewtaken substantially on line 3*3 of-'Fig. 2.

In saiddrawings, denotes a portion of the chassis, to which is secured a three-quarter elliptical spring, said spring comprising a lower half member ll secured toithe chassis at 12; 'anda quarter springfllil secured to the chassisat 14, said half and quarter springs being connected by ,pivotally mounted link 15. The half springlljis mounted on the axle 16 by means of a bearing 17 secured to the spring by clamps 'l818, said clamps'18-18 also forming the means for attaching a, bracket 19 to said spring. The bracket 19 comprises a hori zontal portion 20 and an upward extension 21,- the latter, at the top thereof, having pivotally connected thereto a link 22, the

jpivotal'connection being formed by a removable pin or bolt 23 held in place by a cotter scribed more in detail hereinafter, is pivotmeans of a removable pin 26, the

24. The other end of the link, which is deally connected to a second link 25 as by upper end of the link 25 being similarly pivotally attached to the chassis as at 27.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 191

' Application filed July 25, 1914. Serial Ito. 852,995.

The link 22 comprises two similar members 28-28, each of which is provided with V a semi-circular 'bowedportion 29, said bowed portions being. arranged opposite each other and forming a loop which encircles a friction shell 1300f the shockabsorbmgdevice proper. The members 2828 are securely wise, a squared member 35, the members 35 fitting within the rectangular recesses 33, and'slidable up and down therein, the nor- 'mal position of the friction shell with respect to the link 22 being such that the up per and lower edges 36 of the members are spaced from the upper and lower faces 37 of-theenlargement 32.

The shell 30, on its inner side, is provided with an internal cylindrical friction surface I 38', on which slide, and coiiperate therewith,

39, there being ,a plurality of friction shoes four of said shoes in the structure shown, and which are circularly arranged- Each shoe or block39' is provided withan arouate outer friction surface 40-which presses directly against the friction surface 38; a horizontal inwardly extending rib 41;.vertical strengthening webs 42, the ribs 41 being each provided on their inner facewith oppositely arranged wedge-acting faces, shown in the drawing as a curved bearing 43.

Pivotally connected to the horizontal 'flang'e 290i the bracket 19, as by a remov- Iable pivot pin 44, is a bolt 45 which extends up into the shell 30,- and is provided with an intermediate collar 46 and a threaded end 47 r on which i'sadjustably mounted a nut 48.

lVIounted on the bolt 45, between the nut 48 and collar 46, are two spring caps or followers, or washers 49, and between the fol lowers 49, and also slidably mounted on the bolt 45, are two hollow wedge members 50. Each wedge member 50 is substantially rectangular in cross sectionpand is provided with four Wedge faces 51, the number of said faces corresponding to the number of friction shoes. On the inside, each wedge to receive therewithin a spring 52. the Wedge faces 51 andthe adjacent wedge member 50 is hollowed out, and is adafied Between faces on the friction shoes, are interposed anti-friction rollers 53, four in number, to

' direct engagement with the wedges 50-50.

The upper wall 55 of the shell 30 is cut away, as indicated at 56, to accommodate the nut 48 upon extreme movement of the latter, and, at its lower end, the shell 30 is exteriorly threaded to thereby receive a correspondingly threaded removable cap 57, the latter being centrally perforated to permit the bolt A5 to pass-therethrough.

The operation is as follows: As will be apparent, upon relative lateral movement between the spring members 11 and 13, the links 22 and 25, and the pivotal connection between the bolt 45 and the lower spring 11, will permit the shock absorbing device to accommodate itself to. such movements.

l which direction the motion is.'

Upon movement of the spring membersll' and '13, either toward or from each other, no

action takes place in the shock absorbing 'device until the square members reach the .limit of their movement within the recesses 3333, whereupon relative movement between the friction shell30 and the bolt 45 is caused. WVhen such relative movement takes place, it is apparent that the pressure of both springs 52-52 is transmitted to the shoes through the wedges and rollers, both wedges bearing on. the rollers at all times. rollers slightly ascend the inclined planes on the wedges and shoes, depending upon On the return or release, the rollers are in the bottom of' the V socket formed by the opposed inclined wcdging faces. I

-It will'be noted that all lost motion and wear on the parts is automatically taken up byfthe wedges and springs and also that the inclined roller seats on either the shoes orthe wedges may be varied to thereby regulate the frictional resistance Also,.with the arrangement shown, the movement of the shoes and wedges is not limited to the height of the springs such as is true of many shock absorbers, and by having the follow-" ers 4.-949 closely fill the cylinder, I obtain the advantage of partial atmospheric pres- During this movement, the

sure on he cylinder ends due to the partial vacuum created below.

I am aware that varlous changes may be made in details of construction and arrange-v ment of the parts, and all such changes and modifications are contemplated as come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim LA shock absorber comprising, in coins bination, a friction shell, friction shoes slidable within said shell, a member hav ngoppositely arranged wedges thereon, said oppositely arranged wedges being movable 1n 2. shock absorber comprising, in com bination, a friction shell, friction shoes slidable therein, a member having oppositely arranged'wedges thereon, said oppositely an;

ranged wedges being movable in unison and in both directions longitudinally of the shell, from normal position, said shoes having co operative wedge-acting surfaces, 4 springs acting through said wedges to prgss said shoes against the shell, and means for holding said springs under an initial compres-- sion.

bination, a friction shell, friction shoes slidably mounted within said shell, and having wedge-acting faces, a pair of separate and oppositely arranged wedges cooperating with said shoes, springsnormally forcing said'wedges toward each other, and rollers interposed between said wedges and said shoes.

4. A shock absorber comprising, in combination, a friction shell, friction shoes slidably mounted within said shell, a bolt slidable relatively to said shell and within the latterga pair of separate and oppositely ar' ranged wedges mounted on'said bolt, followers ,mounted on said bolt, springs inter- .-,posed between said followers and each of the wedges, said springs being normally under compression, and anti-friction rollers be-' tween said wedges and said slices.

5., A shock absorber comprising a friction shell, friction shoes, oppositely arranged spring pressed wedges, and means for moving said shoes and wedges bodily simultaneously relatively to said shell in opposite directions from normal.

. JOHN F.0CONNOR.

Witnesses: i

CARRIE G. RANz, ARLINE R. ARNOLD.

3. A shock absorber comprising, in com- 

